A beekeeper in Ames, Iowa, sprays smoke to calm bees while working among a crop of sunflowers. This photo was taken as a part of a story on the preservation of heirloom seeds in the July 2011 issue.

Sunflowers and Smoke

A beekeeper in Ames, Iowa, sprays smoke to calm bees while working among a crop of sunflowers. This photo was taken as a part of a story on the preservation of heirloom seeds in the July 2011 issue.
Photograph by Jim Richardson, Nat Geo Image Collection

See an explosion of color in these 30 photos from the Nat Geo archives

June is Pride month, so for this selection I was inspired by the colors of the rainbow.

One of my favorite images that I found was a vibrant sunflower picture by Jim Richardson. The stalks of the vivid yellow sunflowers fill up the scene, engulfing the beekeeper at the bottom of the frame.

I loved Nora Lorek’s image of a mother and her children, refugees from South Sudan now in Uganda. Lorek took portraits of families against the backdrop of their bedsheet, which published in the May 2018 issue.

While it’s a little understated, Nichole Sobecki’s portrait of a non-binary Ugandan refugee caught my eye. Their matching red head scarf and lipstick beautifully contrast with their emerald green earrings and eyeshadow.

Heather Kim is the editor for Photo of the DayMelody Rowell writes and researches the captions.

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